Interesting. I think there is a sustainability to this art of personal intimacy in performance where a kind of simulacrum is created for performance that is often indistinguishable by an audience from real revelation but is not the same as revelation. I think of Carrie Fisher's wonderful Wishful Drinking. She performed it as a stage show for a long time, then filmed it... and it was scripted with improv bits. Same with Hannah Gadsby's pieces: searingly insightful, but scripted and repeated for long stretches of touring and performing. And there are a myriad of others; those are the two striking examples that come to mind. How does that work? Is it like growing an exoskeleton that looks very similar to your innards but is more resilient? Is it putting on a mask? Is it like having strategically placed windows with scenery so the audience thinks there's an "outside" past the wall on the stage?
Just such a fresh perspective. So honest and insightful. Wish I could read the Times piece !
Interesting. I think there is a sustainability to this art of personal intimacy in performance where a kind of simulacrum is created for performance that is often indistinguishable by an audience from real revelation but is not the same as revelation. I think of Carrie Fisher's wonderful Wishful Drinking. She performed it as a stage show for a long time, then filmed it... and it was scripted with improv bits. Same with Hannah Gadsby's pieces: searingly insightful, but scripted and repeated for long stretches of touring and performing. And there are a myriad of others; those are the two striking examples that come to mind. How does that work? Is it like growing an exoskeleton that looks very similar to your innards but is more resilient? Is it putting on a mask? Is it like having strategically placed windows with scenery so the audience thinks there's an "outside" past the wall on the stage?